Juvenile and adenomatous gastrointestinal polyposis

Summary This is the fourth report of a case showing an association between juvenile and adenomatous polyposis. Starting at age 14, this patient underwent multiple polypectomies and gastrointestinal resections over a 15-year period. Although initial biopsies were diagnosed as juvenile polyps, later biopsies showed both adenomatous polyps and large polypoid masses with a mixture of juvenile and adenomatous features. Several typical small hyperplastic polyps were also found in the stomach. This case contrasts with the previous three cases in that the gastrointestinal tract is more widely involved and in that there is an unusual marked hyperplasia of argentaffin-and argyrophil-positive cells. The case reported here strengthens the relation between adenomatous polyposis and juvenile polyposis.     

Watermelon stomach: a rare cause of upper gastrointestinal bleeding.

Watermelon stomach is a rare cause of upper gastrointestinal bleeding. We report a middle-aged woman who had been having recurrent bleeding from watermelon stomach. She was treated surgically by gastrectomy and Billroth II anastomosis.     

Acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding in operated stomach： Outcome of 105 cases

AIM: To compare the causes and clinical outcome of patients with acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding (AUGB) and a history of gastric surgery to those with AUGB but without a history of gastric surgery in the past.METHODS: The causes and clinical outcome were compared between 105 patients with AUGB and a history of gastric surgery, and 608 patients with AUGB but without a history of gastric surgery.RESULTS: Patients who underwent gastric surgery in the past were older (mean age: 68.1±11.7 years vs 62.8±17.8 years, P= 0.001), and the most common cause of bleeding was marginal ulcer in 63 patients (60%). No identifiable source of bleeding could be found in 22 patients (20.9%) compared to 42/608 (6.9%) in patients without a history of gastric surgery (P = 0.003). Endoscopic hemostasis was permanently successful in 26 out of 35 patients (74.3%) with peptic ulcers and active bleeding or non-bleeding visible vessel. Nine patients (8.6%) were operated due to continuing or recurrent bleeding,compared to 23/608 (3.8%) in the group of patients without gastric surgery in the past (P= 0.028). Especially in peptic ulcer bleeding patients, emergency surgery was more common in the group of patients with gastric surgery in the past [9/73 (12.3%) vs 19/360 (5.3%), P = 0.025].Moreover surgically treated patients in the past required more blood transfusion (3.3±4.0 vs 1.5±1.7, P = 0.0001) and longer hospitalization time (8.6±4.0 vs 6.9±4.9 d,P = 0.001) than patients without a history of gastric surgery. Mortality was not different between the two groups [4/105 (3.8%) vs 19/608 (3.1%)].CONCLUSION: Upper gastrointestinal bleeding seems to be more severe in surgically treated patients than in non-operated patients.     

Non-variceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding

Severe upper gastrointestinal bleeding remains a common medical emergency. In the last two decades endoscopy has become the cornerstone of diagnosis, risk stratification and treatment of peptic ulcer bleeding. Clinical assessment and endoscopic recognition of the stigmata of recent haemorrhage can allow the identification of patients with a high risk of rebleeding. Patients with active bleeding at the time of endoscopy and with non-bleeding visible vessels should receive endoscopic treatment. Studies comparing different treatment modalities are mostly single centre studies with relatively small groups of patients and therefore lack statistical power. Furthermore most of those trials were heterogeneous because of differences in the end points, differences in the risk factors for rebleeding and differences in the levels of experience of the endoscopists in both recognition and treatment of bleeding ulcers. Recently different treatment modalities have been studied. The injection of clot-inducing factors, a combination of injection and thermal therapies, repeat endoscopies and the use of mechanical devices such as clips and ligatures are promising new techniques. However, there are, at present, no convincing data to suggest that any one of these treatment modalities is superior when looking at the overall group of patients with bleeding peptic ulcer. Larger randomized controlled trials must focus on tailoring therapies and using the optimal therapy for different subgroups of patients.     

Nonvariceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding

Nonvariceal UGI bleeding is one of the most common emergencies that gastroenterologists encounter, and continues to be a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. The keys to management are rapid resuscitation and stabilization; appropriate triage based on pre-endoscopic risk factors; early endoscopy to achieve prompt diagnosis and implement hemostatic therapy to high-risk lesions; and aggressive antisecretory therapy (in the case of peptic ulcer bleeding) to reduce the risk of continued or recurrent bleeding.     

Management of upper gastrointestinal bleeding

Upper gastrointestinal bleeding secondary to ulcer disease is common and results in substantial patient morbidity and medical expense. After initial resuscitation to stabilize the patient, carefully performed endoscopy provides an accurate diagnosis and identifies high-risk ulcer patients who are likely to rebleed with medical therapy alone and will benefit most from endoscopic hemostasis. For patients with major stigmata of ulcer hemorrhage—active arterial bleeding, nonbleeding visible vessel, and adherent clot—combination therapy with epinephrine injection and either thermal coagulation (multipolar or heater probe) or endoclips is recommended. High-dose intravenous proton pump inhibitors are recommended as concomitant therapy after successful endoscopic hemostasis. Patients with minor stigmata or clean-based ulcers will not benefit from endoscopic treatment and should receive high-dose oral proton pump inhibitor therapy. Effective medical and endoscopic management of ulcer hemorrhage can significantly improve outcomes and decrease the cost of medical care by reducing rebleeding, transfusion requirements, and the need for surgery.     

Strongyloides hyper-infection causing life-threatening gastrointestinal bleeding

INTRODUCTION Chemotherapy of malignancies as well as immunosuppres- sion of immunological disorders is frequently complicated with severe infections, including bacterial, viral, fungal or parasitic infections. We present here a case of life-threaten- ing …     

Epidemiology of acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding

Acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding is an important emergency situation. Population-based epidemiology data are important to get insight in the actual healthcare problem. There are only few recent epidemiological surveys regarding acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Several surveys focusing on peptic ulcer disease showed a significant decrease in admission and mortality of peptic ulcer disease. Several more recent epidemiological surveys show a decrease in incidence of all cause upper gastrointestinal bleeding. The incidence of peptic ulcer bleeding remained stable. Peptic ulcer bleeding is the most common cause of upper gastrointestinal bleeding, responsible for about 50% of all cases, followed by oesophagitis and erosive disease. Variceal bleeding is the cause of bleeding in cirrhotic patients in 50-60%. Rebleeding in upper gastrointestinal bleeding occurs in 7-16%, despite endoscopic therapy. Rebleeding is especially high in variceal bleeding and peptic ulcer bleeding. Mortality ranges between 3 and 14% and did not change in the past 10 years. Mortality is increasing with increasing age and is significantly higher in patients who are already admitted in hospital for co-morbidity. Risk factors for peptic ulcer bleeding are NSAIDs use and H. pylori infection. In patients at risk for gastrointestinal bleeding and using NSAIDs, a protective drug was only used in 10%. COX-2 selective inhibitors do cause less gastroduodenal ulcers compared to non-selective NSAIDs, however, more cardiovascular adverse events are reported. H. pylori infection is found in about 50% of peptic ulcer bleeding patients. H. pylori should be tested for in all ulcer patients and eradication should be given.     

Pharmacologic treatment of upper gastrointestinal bleeding

Opinion statement The first goal of therapy is to assess hemodynamic stability in a patient presenting with evidence of upper gastrointestinal bleeding and, second, to maintain hemodynamic stability using crystalloids or packed red blood cells. The diagnosis of the cause of upper gastrointestinal bleeding should be performed using endoscopic techniques, which should be performed early. Therapy directed at treating the cause of upper gastrointestinal bleeding should be initiated at the time of endoscopy. Pharmacologic management should be based on the prevention of ulcer rebleeding and should be initiated at the time of endoscopic diagnosis. Surgery should be considered only in cases when endoscopic and pharmacologic treatments are deemed a failure.     

Management of upper gastrointestinal bleeding.

As the number of elderly Americans dramatically increases over the next three decades, as the amount of NSAID usage in the elderly continues to increase, and as the incidence of ulcer disease continues to increase in the elderly, upper gastrointestinal endoscopy will play an increasingly important role in the management of gastrointestinal hemorrhage. Initial efforts should be directed toward stabilizing the patient and obtaining a history and physical examination. As the number of associated diseases increases in a patient with gastrointestinal hemorrhage, so does risk of mortality. Therefore, it is important to promptly identify the site of bleeding and to stop active or recurrent bleeding by the application of endoscopic therapy. Intravenous sedation should be given cautiously to achieve conscious sedation in a monitored patient. A skilled endoscopist should be available to perform endoscopy and apply the therapeutic modalities of electrocoagulation, photocoagulation, or injection therapy for bleeding or nonbleeding vessels or sclero-therapy for esophageal varices. The key to success is to identify the site of bleeding and then act on the finding as clinically indicated. By doing so, it appears that the cost of hospitalization and the mortality in the elderly patient are reduced.     

Endoscopic treatment of upper gastrointestinal bleeding

Opinion statement Endoscopic therapy for nonvariceal bleeding should only be used if major stigmata of hemorrhage such as active bleeding and nonbleeding visible vessel are present. Treatment of peptic ulcers with adherent clots is currently controversial. Combination of epinephrine injection and coaptive coagulation is most effective in achieving endoscopic hemostasis. Hemoclips may be preferable for very deep ulcers and large visible blood vessels if coaptive coagulation is anticipated to have a high risk of perforation or bleeding. Adrenaline injection or hemoclip application should be used in bleeding Mallory-Weiss tears, as the safety of thermal methods is not well established. Argon plasma coagulation is the mainstay of endoscopic treatment for superficial lesions such as angiodysplasia and gastric antral vascular ectasia. Both sclerotherapy and band ligation are effective in acute hemostasis of bleeding esophageal varices. Variceal band ligation is preferred due to its superior safety profile and shorter procedure time. Due to the early recurrence of varices after banding ligation, there may be a role for metachronous combination therapy of ligation followed by sclerotherapy. Histoacryl glue is the preferred method of endoscopic hemostasis in gastric varices.